Parkland and Emmaus combined to score one goal in their two regular season meetings, but the Trojans erupted – if you can call it that – with two goals in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference semifinals to beat the Hornets 2-0 and advance to the conference championship against the Pocono Mountain East Cardinals, who are now 16-2 in the EPC and 18-2 overall on the season.

The Cardinals downed Stroudsburg 2-1 in overtime in the other EPC semifinal.

The first goal of the game came from Ben Jago, who took a missed kick from an Emmaus defender and turned it into a guided missile directly on goal from 30-yards out.

The shot fit perfectly in the top left corner of the net, above diving Emmaus goalkeeper Sam Cho, to give Parkland a 1-0 lead 23-minutes into the game. The Trojans took a couple moments to celebrate their first goal of the season against their rivals before settling right back into business with a daunting defensive attack.

Parkland (11-3-2 EPC, 14-3-2 overall), with a lot of help from sophomore goalkeeper Jacob Varrato, has now allowed just four goals in its last six games and has outscored its opponents 52-13 this season, including 12 shutouts.

“During club season, I only had about five goals, but most of them were like that, so I’ve got to give it a shot when I have the chance,” said Jago with a laugh. “I wouldn’t say it was lucky, but I wouldn’t say it was 100 percent skill, if you know what I mean.”

Varrato made a spectacular save to preserve the lead in the final minute of the first half. Emmaus’ Kyle Hahn moved down the left side of the field and put a great shot on goal, but Varrato’s dive stopped it and kept the game from being tied at halftime.

“The boys really rally around each other,” said Trojan head coach Patrick Birns. “I always feel that at Parkland, you’re as good as your senior class, meaning, will the senior class embrace the underclassmen? And this group did.

“We had some sophomores come up huge. Jake Varrato had a big save at the end of the first half that really kept us in there and kept that one-goal lead. Then, we had a junior [Conley Hochstetler] score a goal and the seniors embrace that, so I think that’s pretty exciting.”

Hochstetler’s goal came after a heated point in the game with just under 13 minutes left to play.

Both teams had issues with calls throughout the game and Birns questioned a call and received a yellow card. He continued to press for an explanation before walking away, still miffed about not getting an explanation and receiving a yellow card. The referee quickly pulled the red card from his back pocket, ejecting Birns from the game and causing an automatic one-game suspension for the Parkland coach.

“I think there was a little heated emotion,” said Birns. “There was a quick yellow and I walked away. He took offense to what I said as I walked away and gave me the red card. I thought it was a pretty quick card both times, but I’ve got to learn from it and we’ll move on.”

Just prior to Hochstetler’s goal, Emmaus’ John Fritz appeared to score on a 50-50 ball that Fritz headed into the goal. Instead, Fritz was given a yellow card on the play and the goal was negated.

Jago and his teammates continued to stress the importance of beating Emmaus and the boost that can give them going into the championship game and into districts.

“It’s great to beat them, especially in the playoffs,” said Jago. “Now that we’ve beaten this team, that’s our biggest rival, so it will give us confidence going into finals.”